FBI Questions Pastor

[Eadora]

Yoh Friends --

This has got to be worth a look.

FBI questions Pastor: Mount Vernon Preacher Shocked By Agents Queries

http://www.thesouthern.com/articles/2005/0...6f189690240.txt

MOUNT VERNON - As the senior pastor at Southwest Christian Church in Mount Vernon, Randy Steele thought he had encountered nearly every circumstance a minister could face.

The Rev. Steele recently found out he was totally wrong in that assumption, however.

The 32-year-old pastor, who has been a minister for 13 years, received what he called the "shock of his life" last November and is still incredulous about the chain of events that took place.

On Nov. 23 - the day before Thanksgiving - he received a phone call from an agent with the FBI who requested to speak with him in person. After the phone call Steele said he assumed that a member of his congregation might be in trouble.

"I was wondering if maybe somebody in my church might have done something, but still I couldn't fathom what they wanted to talk to me about," Steele said

[Ovedya]

And....

[IslandRose]

The link tells the rest of the story. And a rather chilling story it is. And it will probably get worse rather than better.

[traveller]

....the rest of the story.....

"I was wondering if maybe somebody in my church might have done something, but still I couldn't fathom what they wanted to talk to me about," Steele said. "So I was in a lot of prayer that day asking God to give me the right words to say."

Steele altered his schedule and agreed to be interviewed and later that same day a pair of FBI agents arrived at the church. Steele said he had a brief conversation with the two agents, what he termed "small talk," before he finally asked them what they wanted to talk to him about.

"One of the agents opened a file and told me that the FBI wanted to question me about a sermon that I preached on Memorial Day nearly six months before," Steele said. "At first I just laughed and said,

[Eadora]

Ovedya

I think it curious that the FBI would find a

Mid Western Pastor to be so curious.

Do you not find that curious?

Edited February 10, 2005 by Eadora

[Ovedya]

Just because the FBI questions a pastor about a sermon doesn't mean that the next step is arresting pastors who preach against homosexuality, abortions, gay marriage, etc.

The summary of this story is that the pastor preached something that someone misunderstood or just plain hated, that person reported him to the FBI, the FBI asked some questions, the pastor answered, and the Feds went on their merry way. End of story.

Isn't that the way it's supposed to work? Surely we don't believe that pastors should have some kind of immunity to police investigation when questions arise as to the content of their messages? Or didn't you know that the FBI kept a rather thick file on Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and other black preachers during the Civil Rights movement of the late 50s through 60s?

[Eadora]

Yoh! Gotta go for a while

[traveller]

[Guest Thomas I believe]

Yoh!  Gotta go for a while

[JesusisGod2]

I went to the link and turned it up and my dog went nuts!! ran towards the door started barking... what a nut